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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2508101" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 132 ,“Things that go BOOM in the Night”, Saturday, January 14th, 1882:</strong></p><p></p><p>Before they even get to the front doors of the El Parador they can hear the dwarven laughter. The building is packed, with every chair in the place taken and an equal number of dwarves standing. Every employee of the place are busy serving food and drinks including a few who normally don't such as handyman Grant Keebler. Even Angelica Huesca's young son Ricardo is helping serve. Dorita waves the three over and says "Good, you get away from bad man. You no go back if he there. You help with food" and she shoves serving dishes into Kate, Ruby and Jake's hands.</p><p></p><p>Kate set the tray down on the bar for a moment and pulled off her soaking jacket to hang with the others near the door. After that she picked up the tray again. Watching the others it seemed they were just going around with the trays, offering rather than filling orders. She began to wend her way through the tables doing the same.</p><p></p><p>Ruby follows Kate's lead and takes off her jacket and hangs it. She looks at the tray and at Jake and furrows her brow. "I'm not exactly dressed for this..." Before she finishes speaking Dorita gives her a push from behind. "You go, take food!" Ruby takes the tray and walks around the room, wondering where Sonoma is to provide some entertainment. When she walks past Kate she asks her and Kate tells her Sonoma stayed out at the ranch. Ruby nods and waits for the right moment to get into position at the performance area near the piano.</p><p></p><p>Jake eyes the platter of food in his hand like someone might if they were handed a live snake. He wonders what exactly dwarves consider a delicacy, sniffs the food, and his imagination makes him shudder. At the rate that Katherine is emptying her platter, she'll need another soon he thinks. He just stands there, in his dripping duster and hat, scanning the room. Ruby barely hears him talking to himself, "So many drunken dwarves, If I can only get in a poker game..." and notices the sparkle in his eye and the faint smile on his face.</p><p></p><p>Ruby sees "that look" on Jake's face so before she gets on the stage she walks over to him and grabs his tray. "Why don't you go take a seat up front, you'll be closer to the stage that way," she smiles and nods her head towards one of the poker tables. "I think someone just passed out up there so there is an empty seat." Ruby starts to walk away then turns back and gives Jake a kiss. "Good luck," she whispers, "Go win lots of money."</p><p></p><p>Jake finds dwarves more than willing to blow their hard-earned winnings at his table. However, there is great turnover, with a new bunch of players replacing the others after every hand. On the first hand Jake wins $ 32. On the second a Dwarf named Brilldi wins the pot and Jake loses $ 14 on it. Jake wins the third hand bringing in $ 41. The patrons are also very receptive to the music that Kate and Ruby provide and the tips cup fills up with money.</p><p></p><p>Dorita keeps the food and drinks flowing keeping Kate very busy passing trays. Every once in a while she will come out to the floor and point to a dwarf who has passed out she will yell a number in Spanish to Estaban who will bring the intoxicated patron up to the proper room. </p><p></p><p>Ruby sings her rowdiest dwarven drinking songs, getting the dwarves to buy many drinks for themselves and even some her. She sings a very long set then heads to the bar for a break. She sees Kate looking a bit harried and motions for her to take a break too. As she passes Jake she whispers in his ear, "Do you need anything?" Jake reaches back and strokes her hair as she passes by, "No, there seems to be plenty of dwarves."</p><p></p><p>Kate shook her head and kept on moving. It was far too busy here for her to be taking a break. In the back of her mind she remembered that she wouldn't have been here anyway, but the work at least distracting. It hadn't really been very long since they left the Lone Star, and Mr. Martin had stayed. But Kate still worried. She wanted Maggie here and safe. Ruby had stopped for a moment by Jake. As soon as she was free Kate would make sure Ruby hadn't needed anything from her before she went back to work.</p><p></p><p>At around 9:30 PM, little more than an hour since they had left the Lone Star, Maggie and Chester walk through the doors of the El Parador. Kate breathes a sigh of relief when she sees a big grin on Maggie's face but is disappointed that she doesn't also have a suitcase. It takes a bit for them to make their way through the massive number of dwarves, having picked up another two dozen in the past hour. Kate gestures to the kitchen and Maggie makes her way through the crowd and over toward the room. Once inside the kitchen Dorita gives Maggie a big hug and says "Good! You here now! We all worry, your father bad man. How bad man have such good daughter?" Maggie just laughs and says "Blame my mother on that. She was a lot like you Dorita."</p><p></p><p>After Ruby’s break, and a considerable amount of whiskey, she makes her way back to the stage. She keeps singing and even dancing a bit. The dwarves are rowdy but if they seem like they are getting too rowdy she just sings more well known songs and they all start singing along with her. She also comes off the stage to walk around while singing. She keeps an eye on Jake to see if he needs any inspiration but she mostly watches Kate to make sure she is alright. Ruby guesses Kate had never really been around this many non-humans and she also knows that scenes like this could get ugly quickly. None the less she continues to drink, and starts getting slightly tipsy after a bit, which actually improves her singing. Later into her set she notices Maggie come in with Chester and can see Kate's face lighten.</p><p></p><p>Kate waited until Dorita let go and then hugged Maggie as well. "I'm so glad to see you here with a smile on your face. It's exciting out there, to say the least. You are going to stay, aren't you? I'm rather looking forward to having you all to myself for the night." She replies "No, I'll have to go back at some point, but I'm going to stay here as long as I want and let them worry for a change. Don't worry about tomorrow, I'll come down with some sort of feminine problem to keep me from having to go to church. Oh Kate, it is such a relief to be this close to my dreams. Twelve hours from now I'll be on a stagecoach riding off to a new life. That idea scared me earlier but now I embrace it."</p><p></p><p>Kate says, "I'm so glad you're happy. I felt as if we bowled you over a bit earlier. So much coming at you at once, but it had to be quick, didn't it? It's going to be wonderful for you, I know it. Let's go back out into the Cantina. I'll play and Ruby will sing and we can have a fun night just for ourselves. Oh, and remind me to return your mother's pillow to you before you leave!"</p><p></p><p>Jake looks around after Ruby and Katherine between hands but is mostly oblivious. He finds that playing poker with dwarves is fun, even if not challenging. "I'll buy a round" he says to his table "but you'll need to teach me a good dwarven toast." Pedro brings a tray of beer tankards and a series of toasts follow. A dwarven cleric praises Moradin, father of the dwarven race. Another dwarf toasts to Svien the Red, a dwarven Viking hero who he descends from. Another dwarf toast to Hellji the Brave, his mother. Another dwarf then toasts to the Battle of Ipswich in the year 1010, a famous Viking victory over the Anglo-Saxon humans. The final dwarf toasts to himself winning the next hand of poker.</p><p></p><p>Why does it have to be beer, Jake thinks to himself, "I can't top that, but here's to the dwarves, giants of character and a stalwart folk if there ever was." He drinks half his mug and tries not to make a face. He keeps his eye out for the next whiskey passing by.</p><p></p><p>Pedro brings another round out beer, giving one to everybody except Jake since he still has half of his. The first dwarf now makes a toast to Clanggeldin Silverbeard, the dwarven god of Battle. The next toasts to the Norse god Thor. The next dwarf toasts to Thor's sons Magni and Modia The fourth dwarf makes another toast to Hellji the Brave, his mother. The next dwarf then toasts to the Battle of Cambridge in the year 1013, another famous Viking victory over the Anglo-Saxon humans. The final dwarf toasts again to himself winning the next hand of poker and asks that the cards be dealt. Jake cheerfully complies with dealing the cards.</p><p></p><p>Ruby continues to sing and drink. Chester looks bewildered at all the dwarves crowding the saloon. He catches Kate when she has a free moment. "Umm. Is there anything I can do?" She replies, "Go ask Dorita. She'll put you to good use." Chester winds his way to the kitchen. He takes off his hat and scratches his head. "Dorita? Can I do anything for you? I feel a bit out of sorts." She hands him a tray of some type of dwarven food that he thinks are pickled pigs feet but doesn't dare ask in case they are actually something worse. She says "Go pass out food!" He decides that doing so would probably be the fastest way for him to stop having to smell it.</p><p></p><p>The entire building shakes as the sound of a massive explosion rings out and the side wall of the El Parador gets pelted with debris. A dwarf yells out "Earthquake" and the short stocky men begin to file out of the front door in a surprisingly orderly fashion. Some flaming debris continues to fall into the street but goes out quickly in the puddles and mud. "I fold this hand folks, sorry." </p><p></p><p>"I must be drinking too much," Ruby thinks with the shake. Then she sees everyone heading for the door. "Hey, what's going on?" Ruby pushes her way to the door to look outside. Jake puts on his coat and hat and heads for the front door. "Chester, you coming?" He calls across the room while he buttons his coat and putting his revolvers in the outside pockets. Chester sets his tray down on the nearest table. "Right behind you, Mr. Cook. What do you think happened?" </p><p></p><p>Katherine nearly dropped the tray as the rumbling started. She grabbed onto the back of the stool to keep herself upright. When it stopped she set the tray down, looked over at Maggie who's face must have reflected her own shock, and went for the door. She heard Mr. Martin say something about Condon's bank blowing up.</p><p></p><p>Once out on the street they can see that there are several burning buildings and a crowd is started to gather around two-and-a-half blocks west on South Street, in the general area of Condon's Bank. Chester tells Jake "Uh-oh. Deadeye must have blown up the bank. We better go see if anyone's hurt." He calls back inside, "Is there a fire brigade? I think Condon's bank blew up."</p><p></p><p>Jake puts his favorite Colt in his hand but keeps it hidden in his pocket. "I'm going to run over to the Doc's office and then the Marshall's office before checking out what everyone else is looking at." Jake looks back only for a second. "Anyone is welcome." and he is off. "Wait for me!" Ruby grabs a jacket off the rack and runs out. "Jake, wait," Kate called out, dashing into the rain after him. "I'll come with you."</p><p></p><p>Chester makes his way down the street along with most of the dwarves, merging in with crowds from Allen street from the Main Street saloons, with another three dozen or so people again mostly dwarves flowing in. As they get closer they can see that the brick bank building is still standing, although there is some burning debris on the bank's roof. </p><p></p><p>The fire appears to be concentrated on the two wooden buildings east of the bank, Mason's Feed and Grain and Hoover's Wholesale Liquor and Saloon. Several dozen dwarves are busy helping to safely remove the cases of liquor from the burning building under the supervision and loaded shotgun of the building's owner Niles Hoover and his assistant Harry Rote. Several of the dwarves from the El Parador hurry into the flames to help, with comments how they can't let alcohol be destroyed on Moradin's Day. Chester walks over to Hoover. "What happened here? Is anyone hurt?"</p><p></p><p>He replies "Slade's shed blew up." Chester is confused and Hoover continues "Sam Slade, owns Slade's Hardware, on Front Street behind the grain store. Or at least it used to be there, that building got it the worst. Good thing that the Sheriff's Office, Johnson's Barber Shop and the Long Branch are made of brick or they'd have gone up too." Chester asks, "You need help? Where can we get water to put out these fires?"</p><p></p><p>Hoover replies "The gods seem to be doing a good job of that on their own. Closest water is pine creek, over 300 feet away. This town really should get a fire company. Looks like my building may be a total loss but you can help me make sure that none of my merchandise walks off." Chet tells Hoover, "Sure, I can stick around for a bit. Where're you going to move this. I don't think you can leave this here until you rebuild." </p><p></p><p>With that they head further over to where the dwarves have stacked up around seventy-five cases of bottles and twenty kegs. Hoover tells them "Thanks boys, you can take one of the kegs for your efforts but please leave the rest." Once the dwarves have left with their prize, Chester turns to Hoover, "Dwarves sure do work hard." Hoover replies, "Especially when liquor is involved. Lucky for me they're in town. Could have lost a lot more of my stock. Say, what's your name? I'm Niles Hoover and this here is my assistant, Harry Rote." "Chester Martin, Mr. Hoover, Mr. Rote."</p><p></p><p>Chester asks, Where're you going to move this. I don't think you can leave this here until you rebuild."</p><p>Hoover replies, "No idea. We both room at the Double Eagle Boarding House, and there sure wouldn't be any extra room there. Don't know who'd have the extra space for it."</p><p> </p><p>Chester snaps his fingers, "You know, the El Parador and the Long Branch might have space. I know the people who run them. It would be the neighborly thing to do. How's that strike you?" He replies "Pedro over at the El Parador is a nice guy but I don't trust some of the folks who hang around there. Forget the Long Branch too, I wouldn't trust that Kate Higgens to make change for me let alone watch my property." Chester says, "Hmm. What about the Lone Star, then?" Hoover replies, "That's an idea. Tom Whipple is a good guy and his wife is honest, not too swift, but definitely honest."</p><p></p><p>Chester replies, "Well, let me go ask them. Can you keep your eye on your stock, until I come back?" Hoover replies, "Go on ahead. We got things taken care of for the moment." Chester jogs over to the Lone Star. He tries to find Maggie in the crowded room. She's not there but Tom is. "Tom, I need a favor. Mr. Hoover's store caught fire and he needs a place to store his supply for the time being. Do you have space here and what do you want from him?" </p><p></p><p>Tom replies that he does, as they are closed for the night, that Sunday is a slow day and his father will be leaving on Monday so they should have room to store it even though they may have to move it around some. "OK. Are Jeff and Teddy still here? They'll be a great help. Now I was thinking the Lone Star could get a reduced price on liquor and beer from Hoover, in exchange for housing his stock. What do you think?" </p><p></p><p>A few blocks away, Katherine's clothes were soaked and sticking to her skin. She shivered as she pulled Tom's pistol. She stayed a few feet back from Jake, waiting to see what he would do. The Marshall's office is closer than the Doc's and Jake goes there first. The door is locked and the curtains drawn although there appears to be a light on inside. Jake tries to hide himself and see if he can see through any small gap in a window curtain or hear anything. Not very quietly Ruby asks, "Jake, what are you looking for?" Wyatt's voice calls out "Who's out there?" Jake steps away from the window, motions to the woman to stand away, and says loudly "Jake Cook."</p><p></p><p>Ruby steps back at Jake's request. As she is standing there she realizes that she did not put the jacket on that she grabbed and she is now soaking wet. She looks down at the jacket and it isn't hers. Not only that but it must belong to one of the dwarves as it is tiny and would not even be close to fitting. She shrugs and looks to Kate, who is dipping just as badly. Ruby looks down at herself and realizes this may not be the best weather to be out in a strapless dress.</p><p></p><p>The door unlocks and opens slowly. Warren Earp stands in the doorway holding a shotgun. "Get in," Wyatt yells out. Jake does as he is told and waits until he sees that it is safe inside before telling the Earps that Katherine and Ruby are standing outside. Ruby and Katherine are soaking wet and shivering when Warren sticks his head out and motions for the women to come inside. Jake gets inside. The two prisoners are both locked up, each in their own cell. Pinto does not appear to be conscious but Pamela Yeats is Kate took a hold of Ruby's hand and the two of the ducked inside the Marshall's office, water streaming from their clothes. . Wyatt says "Shut the door, we're expecting trouble." Warren Earp quickly shut the door behind them. </p><p></p><p>Warren shuts the door and locks it. Wyatt asks "Did you see any of Douglas's men?" "No. You think the explosion is a diversion?" Kate asked through chattering teeth. Ruby and Kate come inside out of the rain. "I figured the explosion was a distraction." Jake says quickly. "No, didn't see any of them. I wonder if it would be better if I was hiding outside somewhere? We'd all be pinned down here." Ruby pouts at Jake. "I hope you're not planning on getting shot again!" </p><p></p><p>Jake looks from Warren to Wyatt. "Of course if I shot one of the Douglas gang you'd have to look the other way." Wyatt replies "And why would I have to do that Deputy Cooke?"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 2508101, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 132 ,“Things that go BOOM in the Night”, Saturday, January 14th, 1882:[/B] Before they even get to the front doors of the El Parador they can hear the dwarven laughter. The building is packed, with every chair in the place taken and an equal number of dwarves standing. Every employee of the place are busy serving food and drinks including a few who normally don't such as handyman Grant Keebler. Even Angelica Huesca's young son Ricardo is helping serve. Dorita waves the three over and says "Good, you get away from bad man. You no go back if he there. You help with food" and she shoves serving dishes into Kate, Ruby and Jake's hands. Kate set the tray down on the bar for a moment and pulled off her soaking jacket to hang with the others near the door. After that she picked up the tray again. Watching the others it seemed they were just going around with the trays, offering rather than filling orders. She began to wend her way through the tables doing the same. Ruby follows Kate's lead and takes off her jacket and hangs it. She looks at the tray and at Jake and furrows her brow. "I'm not exactly dressed for this..." Before she finishes speaking Dorita gives her a push from behind. "You go, take food!" Ruby takes the tray and walks around the room, wondering where Sonoma is to provide some entertainment. When she walks past Kate she asks her and Kate tells her Sonoma stayed out at the ranch. Ruby nods and waits for the right moment to get into position at the performance area near the piano. Jake eyes the platter of food in his hand like someone might if they were handed a live snake. He wonders what exactly dwarves consider a delicacy, sniffs the food, and his imagination makes him shudder. At the rate that Katherine is emptying her platter, she'll need another soon he thinks. He just stands there, in his dripping duster and hat, scanning the room. Ruby barely hears him talking to himself, "So many drunken dwarves, If I can only get in a poker game..." and notices the sparkle in his eye and the faint smile on his face. Ruby sees "that look" on Jake's face so before she gets on the stage she walks over to him and grabs his tray. "Why don't you go take a seat up front, you'll be closer to the stage that way," she smiles and nods her head towards one of the poker tables. "I think someone just passed out up there so there is an empty seat." Ruby starts to walk away then turns back and gives Jake a kiss. "Good luck," she whispers, "Go win lots of money." Jake finds dwarves more than willing to blow their hard-earned winnings at his table. However, there is great turnover, with a new bunch of players replacing the others after every hand. On the first hand Jake wins $ 32. On the second a Dwarf named Brilldi wins the pot and Jake loses $ 14 on it. Jake wins the third hand bringing in $ 41. The patrons are also very receptive to the music that Kate and Ruby provide and the tips cup fills up with money. Dorita keeps the food and drinks flowing keeping Kate very busy passing trays. Every once in a while she will come out to the floor and point to a dwarf who has passed out she will yell a number in Spanish to Estaban who will bring the intoxicated patron up to the proper room. Ruby sings her rowdiest dwarven drinking songs, getting the dwarves to buy many drinks for themselves and even some her. She sings a very long set then heads to the bar for a break. She sees Kate looking a bit harried and motions for her to take a break too. As she passes Jake she whispers in his ear, "Do you need anything?" Jake reaches back and strokes her hair as she passes by, "No, there seems to be plenty of dwarves." Kate shook her head and kept on moving. It was far too busy here for her to be taking a break. In the back of her mind she remembered that she wouldn't have been here anyway, but the work at least distracting. It hadn't really been very long since they left the Lone Star, and Mr. Martin had stayed. But Kate still worried. She wanted Maggie here and safe. Ruby had stopped for a moment by Jake. As soon as she was free Kate would make sure Ruby hadn't needed anything from her before she went back to work. At around 9:30 PM, little more than an hour since they had left the Lone Star, Maggie and Chester walk through the doors of the El Parador. Kate breathes a sigh of relief when she sees a big grin on Maggie's face but is disappointed that she doesn't also have a suitcase. It takes a bit for them to make their way through the massive number of dwarves, having picked up another two dozen in the past hour. Kate gestures to the kitchen and Maggie makes her way through the crowd and over toward the room. Once inside the kitchen Dorita gives Maggie a big hug and says "Good! You here now! We all worry, your father bad man. How bad man have such good daughter?" Maggie just laughs and says "Blame my mother on that. She was a lot like you Dorita." After Ruby’s break, and a considerable amount of whiskey, she makes her way back to the stage. She keeps singing and even dancing a bit. The dwarves are rowdy but if they seem like they are getting too rowdy she just sings more well known songs and they all start singing along with her. She also comes off the stage to walk around while singing. She keeps an eye on Jake to see if he needs any inspiration but she mostly watches Kate to make sure she is alright. Ruby guesses Kate had never really been around this many non-humans and she also knows that scenes like this could get ugly quickly. None the less she continues to drink, and starts getting slightly tipsy after a bit, which actually improves her singing. Later into her set she notices Maggie come in with Chester and can see Kate's face lighten. Kate waited until Dorita let go and then hugged Maggie as well. "I'm so glad to see you here with a smile on your face. It's exciting out there, to say the least. You are going to stay, aren't you? I'm rather looking forward to having you all to myself for the night." She replies "No, I'll have to go back at some point, but I'm going to stay here as long as I want and let them worry for a change. Don't worry about tomorrow, I'll come down with some sort of feminine problem to keep me from having to go to church. Oh Kate, it is such a relief to be this close to my dreams. Twelve hours from now I'll be on a stagecoach riding off to a new life. That idea scared me earlier but now I embrace it." Kate says, "I'm so glad you're happy. I felt as if we bowled you over a bit earlier. So much coming at you at once, but it had to be quick, didn't it? It's going to be wonderful for you, I know it. Let's go back out into the Cantina. I'll play and Ruby will sing and we can have a fun night just for ourselves. Oh, and remind me to return your mother's pillow to you before you leave!" Jake looks around after Ruby and Katherine between hands but is mostly oblivious. He finds that playing poker with dwarves is fun, even if not challenging. "I'll buy a round" he says to his table "but you'll need to teach me a good dwarven toast." Pedro brings a tray of beer tankards and a series of toasts follow. A dwarven cleric praises Moradin, father of the dwarven race. Another dwarf toasts to Svien the Red, a dwarven Viking hero who he descends from. Another dwarf toast to Hellji the Brave, his mother. Another dwarf then toasts to the Battle of Ipswich in the year 1010, a famous Viking victory over the Anglo-Saxon humans. The final dwarf toasts to himself winning the next hand of poker. Why does it have to be beer, Jake thinks to himself, "I can't top that, but here's to the dwarves, giants of character and a stalwart folk if there ever was." He drinks half his mug and tries not to make a face. He keeps his eye out for the next whiskey passing by. Pedro brings another round out beer, giving one to everybody except Jake since he still has half of his. The first dwarf now makes a toast to Clanggeldin Silverbeard, the dwarven god of Battle. The next toasts to the Norse god Thor. The next dwarf toasts to Thor's sons Magni and Modia The fourth dwarf makes another toast to Hellji the Brave, his mother. The next dwarf then toasts to the Battle of Cambridge in the year 1013, another famous Viking victory over the Anglo-Saxon humans. The final dwarf toasts again to himself winning the next hand of poker and asks that the cards be dealt. Jake cheerfully complies with dealing the cards. Ruby continues to sing and drink. Chester looks bewildered at all the dwarves crowding the saloon. He catches Kate when she has a free moment. "Umm. Is there anything I can do?" She replies, "Go ask Dorita. She'll put you to good use." Chester winds his way to the kitchen. He takes off his hat and scratches his head. "Dorita? Can I do anything for you? I feel a bit out of sorts." She hands him a tray of some type of dwarven food that he thinks are pickled pigs feet but doesn't dare ask in case they are actually something worse. She says "Go pass out food!" He decides that doing so would probably be the fastest way for him to stop having to smell it. The entire building shakes as the sound of a massive explosion rings out and the side wall of the El Parador gets pelted with debris. A dwarf yells out "Earthquake" and the short stocky men begin to file out of the front door in a surprisingly orderly fashion. Some flaming debris continues to fall into the street but goes out quickly in the puddles and mud. "I fold this hand folks, sorry." "I must be drinking too much," Ruby thinks with the shake. Then she sees everyone heading for the door. "Hey, what's going on?" Ruby pushes her way to the door to look outside. Jake puts on his coat and hat and heads for the front door. "Chester, you coming?" He calls across the room while he buttons his coat and putting his revolvers in the outside pockets. Chester sets his tray down on the nearest table. "Right behind you, Mr. Cook. What do you think happened?" Katherine nearly dropped the tray as the rumbling started. She grabbed onto the back of the stool to keep herself upright. When it stopped she set the tray down, looked over at Maggie who's face must have reflected her own shock, and went for the door. She heard Mr. Martin say something about Condon's bank blowing up. Once out on the street they can see that there are several burning buildings and a crowd is started to gather around two-and-a-half blocks west on South Street, in the general area of Condon's Bank. Chester tells Jake "Uh-oh. Deadeye must have blown up the bank. We better go see if anyone's hurt." He calls back inside, "Is there a fire brigade? I think Condon's bank blew up." Jake puts his favorite Colt in his hand but keeps it hidden in his pocket. "I'm going to run over to the Doc's office and then the Marshall's office before checking out what everyone else is looking at." Jake looks back only for a second. "Anyone is welcome." and he is off. "Wait for me!" Ruby grabs a jacket off the rack and runs out. "Jake, wait," Kate called out, dashing into the rain after him. "I'll come with you." Chester makes his way down the street along with most of the dwarves, merging in with crowds from Allen street from the Main Street saloons, with another three dozen or so people again mostly dwarves flowing in. As they get closer they can see that the brick bank building is still standing, although there is some burning debris on the bank's roof. The fire appears to be concentrated on the two wooden buildings east of the bank, Mason's Feed and Grain and Hoover's Wholesale Liquor and Saloon. Several dozen dwarves are busy helping to safely remove the cases of liquor from the burning building under the supervision and loaded shotgun of the building's owner Niles Hoover and his assistant Harry Rote. Several of the dwarves from the El Parador hurry into the flames to help, with comments how they can't let alcohol be destroyed on Moradin's Day. Chester walks over to Hoover. "What happened here? Is anyone hurt?" He replies "Slade's shed blew up." Chester is confused and Hoover continues "Sam Slade, owns Slade's Hardware, on Front Street behind the grain store. Or at least it used to be there, that building got it the worst. Good thing that the Sheriff's Office, Johnson's Barber Shop and the Long Branch are made of brick or they'd have gone up too." Chester asks, "You need help? Where can we get water to put out these fires?" Hoover replies "The gods seem to be doing a good job of that on their own. Closest water is pine creek, over 300 feet away. This town really should get a fire company. Looks like my building may be a total loss but you can help me make sure that none of my merchandise walks off." Chet tells Hoover, "Sure, I can stick around for a bit. Where're you going to move this. I don't think you can leave this here until you rebuild." With that they head further over to where the dwarves have stacked up around seventy-five cases of bottles and twenty kegs. Hoover tells them "Thanks boys, you can take one of the kegs for your efforts but please leave the rest." Once the dwarves have left with their prize, Chester turns to Hoover, "Dwarves sure do work hard." Hoover replies, "Especially when liquor is involved. Lucky for me they're in town. Could have lost a lot more of my stock. Say, what's your name? I'm Niles Hoover and this here is my assistant, Harry Rote." "Chester Martin, Mr. Hoover, Mr. Rote." Chester asks, Where're you going to move this. I don't think you can leave this here until you rebuild." Hoover replies, "No idea. We both room at the Double Eagle Boarding House, and there sure wouldn't be any extra room there. Don't know who'd have the extra space for it." Chester snaps his fingers, "You know, the El Parador and the Long Branch might have space. I know the people who run them. It would be the neighborly thing to do. How's that strike you?" He replies "Pedro over at the El Parador is a nice guy but I don't trust some of the folks who hang around there. Forget the Long Branch too, I wouldn't trust that Kate Higgens to make change for me let alone watch my property." Chester says, "Hmm. What about the Lone Star, then?" Hoover replies, "That's an idea. Tom Whipple is a good guy and his wife is honest, not too swift, but definitely honest." Chester replies, "Well, let me go ask them. Can you keep your eye on your stock, until I come back?" Hoover replies, "Go on ahead. We got things taken care of for the moment." Chester jogs over to the Lone Star. He tries to find Maggie in the crowded room. She's not there but Tom is. "Tom, I need a favor. Mr. Hoover's store caught fire and he needs a place to store his supply for the time being. Do you have space here and what do you want from him?" Tom replies that he does, as they are closed for the night, that Sunday is a slow day and his father will be leaving on Monday so they should have room to store it even though they may have to move it around some. "OK. Are Jeff and Teddy still here? They'll be a great help. Now I was thinking the Lone Star could get a reduced price on liquor and beer from Hoover, in exchange for housing his stock. What do you think?" A few blocks away, Katherine's clothes were soaked and sticking to her skin. She shivered as she pulled Tom's pistol. She stayed a few feet back from Jake, waiting to see what he would do. The Marshall's office is closer than the Doc's and Jake goes there first. The door is locked and the curtains drawn although there appears to be a light on inside. Jake tries to hide himself and see if he can see through any small gap in a window curtain or hear anything. Not very quietly Ruby asks, "Jake, what are you looking for?" Wyatt's voice calls out "Who's out there?" Jake steps away from the window, motions to the woman to stand away, and says loudly "Jake Cook." Ruby steps back at Jake's request. As she is standing there she realizes that she did not put the jacket on that she grabbed and she is now soaking wet. She looks down at the jacket and it isn't hers. Not only that but it must belong to one of the dwarves as it is tiny and would not even be close to fitting. She shrugs and looks to Kate, who is dipping just as badly. Ruby looks down at herself and realizes this may not be the best weather to be out in a strapless dress. The door unlocks and opens slowly. Warren Earp stands in the doorway holding a shotgun. "Get in," Wyatt yells out. Jake does as he is told and waits until he sees that it is safe inside before telling the Earps that Katherine and Ruby are standing outside. Ruby and Katherine are soaking wet and shivering when Warren sticks his head out and motions for the women to come inside. Jake gets inside. The two prisoners are both locked up, each in their own cell. Pinto does not appear to be conscious but Pamela Yeats is Kate took a hold of Ruby's hand and the two of the ducked inside the Marshall's office, water streaming from their clothes. . Wyatt says "Shut the door, we're expecting trouble." Warren Earp quickly shut the door behind them. Warren shuts the door and locks it. Wyatt asks "Did you see any of Douglas's men?" "No. You think the explosion is a diversion?" Kate asked through chattering teeth. Ruby and Kate come inside out of the rain. "I figured the explosion was a distraction." Jake says quickly. "No, didn't see any of them. I wonder if it would be better if I was hiding outside somewhere? We'd all be pinned down here." Ruby pouts at Jake. "I hope you're not planning on getting shot again!" Jake looks from Warren to Wyatt. "Of course if I shot one of the Douglas gang you'd have to look the other way." Wyatt replies "And why would I have to do that Deputy Cooke?" 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